Sunday, April 10, 2011

Commuting to office by cycle in Bangalore - Part 2

I've been commuting to office on a cycle for little more than 2 years now. Time to look back at the over all experience :)

I wrote about this long back, here.

Lets go through those again !

-> Distance I commute on bike -- It varied from 16 km to 10 km to 2 km, and now 6 km. (One way)

-> Time it takes -- Less than any motorbike or car. On a serious note, cycle is actually faster. Especially if the route is packed with other polluting vehicles (did you notice the smugness, hee hee)

-> How long I've been cycling to office : Little more than 2 years

-> What bike do I have: I have 2 bikes now. One is an awesome hard tail mountain bike (Trek 4300). Other one is a sexy road bike (Trek 1.5).

-> Where did I buy these mean machines? -- I bought both the bikes from Bums On the Saddle, The best bicycling shop in Bangalore. Those folks are actual bikers who know their stuff.

-> Okay, Isn't it kind of dangerous to cycle around in crazy Bangalore traffic ? No, not really. It's intimidating for sure. Once you understand how to mingle with the rest of the traffic, it gets easier.

-> How many times I've crashed due to other vehicles : zero

-> How many times I've crashed due to my own stupidity : Two (survived with minor bruises to body, big dent to my ego)

-> How many times I've got yelled at from other motorists? None. (Surprise)

-> How many times I've given the 'finger' to other motorists : quite a few. When I am on a bike, I am very aggressive and fast. Hence, me yelling at other slow moving vehicles is inevitable.

-> How many times kids have given me 'Thumbs up' : more than a few. Kids love bikes. I always smile at them when they keep staring at the bike / or my funny attire.

The number of bike commuters is increasing day by day in Bangalore. I regularly meet a lot of bikers on the road everyday. I can't wait to see Bangalore turning into Amsterdam :)

:-)

5 comments:

AK said...

Happy to note that people are doing their bit for the environment!! I used to work in an IT firm till about a week ago and going to office on a cycle must have crossed my mind a thousand times...Never had the courage though...Now that I'm back home...I think I'll buy one for myself...don't have to go to office but then it'll help me stay fit!!

Hope more people get inspired...
Cheers!

Ashwini Vanmali said...

its nice to that your encouraging ppl to cycle !! Ive always loved cycling and wud love ton have my own bike sometime!!

Arunima said...

sm of my colleagues cycle to work too. Then I think of bloggers who cycle too, and think maybe some of my colleagues blog too.

Satya said...

are you serious in spending 36k on a cycle?
very expensive,then spares, repairs etc etc.

why didnt you chose a simple bike without gears or one with 6 or more gears which are available much cheaper??

anyways, i have been cycling to work in the UK for almost 3 years now, returning to bangalore and wondering if i can do the same.

was little hesitant, but your post gave me nice confidence.

thanks,

Satya said...

are you serious in spending 36k on a cycle?
very expensive,then spares, repairs etc etc.

why didnt you chose a simple bike without gears or one with 6 or more gears which are available much cheaper??

anyways, i have been cycling to work in the UK for almost 3 years now, returning to bangalore and wondering if i can do the same.

was little hesitant, but your post gave me nice confidence.

thanks,